Sex Crime Watch

Monday, June 17, 2013

Amy Lee Cassada, 34-year-old teacher at the St. Marys Ombudsman School, Camden County, Georgia, has been charged with child molestation and electronically transmitting obscene material to a minor.

Police began investigating a report of alleged sexual activity between female teacher and a 15-year-old male student at the St. Marys Ombudsman School last month. Suspicious behavior happened between Casseda and the student after private tutoring sessions were arranged between them.

Police interviewed witnesses and seized several electronic devices as part of the investigation. In addition to text messages, teacher also transmitted a series of four pictures of herself to the student, one of which police said was obscene.

Police say a second person is in police custody in connection with the case. 19-year-old man was arrested for threatening the teen involved in this case a few days after the initial incident was reported. He was subsequently interviewed and confessed to the threat, and told officers he was also a former student of Cassada's and that over time he received sexual images from her as well.

Cassada was not only a teacher at St. Marys Ombudsman, she also works for a private company that contracts with the Camden County School district. The assistant Superintendent of Camden County schools said the company and the district have never had a problem with teachers before and are doing their own investigation into the situation. School system spokesman Arthur Van Blarcum said that Ombudsman has been successful in providing services for Camden County’s alternative school students placed there as a result of disciplinary or academic issues.

The St. Marys Police Department believes there are possibly other juveniles or students who were victimized by Cassada. Other victims are encouraged to contact detectives of the St. Marys Police Department, Criminal Investigation Division.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Christie N. David, 32-year-old former teacher Walker Valley High School, Cleveland, Tennessee, who was charged with having inappropriate relations with a student has pleaded guilty to sexual battery.

David, who was married at the time of her sexual relationship with a 15-year-old boy, was arrested in October 2012 and charged with one count of sexual battery by an authority figure. She pleaded not guilty when indicted in November, but later pleaded guilty to sexual battery, the least offensive of sexual offenses. A judge sentenced her to one year but suspended the sentence and ordered her to register with the state of Tennessee as a sex offender.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Donna Harper, former special education teacher at Judson Middle School, Live Oak, Texas, is accused of sexually molesting four juveniles decades ago while they were students in the mid-1980s.

Donna Harper allegedly pursued a sexual relationship with the boys while they were in seventh and eighth grade. The notice of tort claims that “In addition to touching, groping and grooming, these students had sexual intercourse on numerous occasions with their teacher,” the notice reads. “Some sexual conduct occurred on a one-on-one situation, while other sexual conduct occurred with multiple children being present and having sex, while others watched or participated.” The sexual encounters happened at the school, at Harper’s home, at the South Salem Drive-In and at the Oregon Coast. Harper worked for the school district from September 1977 until December 1991, when she retired for medical reasons. She worked with kids who had physical, developmental and learning disabilities. The four men in these claims struggled with learning disabilities such as dyslexia.

Dan Gatti, the attorney representing the four men who accuse their former teacher, said it’s not unusual for victims to delay coming forward. He has represented several clients in sex-abuse cases against the Catholic Church and Portland’s Archdiocese. “I’ve had cases where people didn’t start connecting the dots until people were in their 70s,” Gatti said. “As a child you don’t have a clue that this is going to affect you. You are just filled with shame and anger.” Gatti is looking for additional victims. “If I’ve got four victims, I suspect she’s probably got many more,” Gatti said. “I would suspect there are other victims — assuming the district didn’t know and didn’t discover it.”

Paul Dakopolos, an attorney for the Salem-Keizer School District, confirmed that the district is investigating the accusations. He said time has made it difficult to track down possible witnesses. “The principal is deceased, and all of the other staff people are retired".

Friday, June 14, 2013

Jenna Leahey, 32-year-old teacher at Parsippany Hills High School, Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, has been arrested for allegedly carrying on a six-month sexual relationship with a 16-year-old male student.

Leahey, who is also the coach of the school’s field hockey team, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and criminal sexual contact. She allegedly began exchanging sexually explicit text messages with the student in late January. She later sent lewd pictures of herself to the boy. Female teacher and male student later kissed and engaged in further sex acts until Thursday last week, when the teenager told another staff member at the high school and Leahey was arrested on Friday, June 7.

Bail was set at $100,000 cash with no 10 percent cash, property or bond alternative. Judge Thomas V. Manahan also set the condition that Leahey is to have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised contact with children under the age of 18. If convicted of the charges, Leahey faces a maximum potential custodial sentence of approximately 20 years, subject to parole supervision for life and Megan’s Law guidelines.

Anyone with relevant information about the alleged crimes is asked to call the Parsippany Police Department Detective Bureau at 973-263-4300 or the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office Sex Crimes/Child Endangerment Unit at 973-285-6200.

Christina Powell, 40-year-old former special education teacher from Middletown, Connecticut, who pled guilty to a sexual relationship with one of her teen students last year was sentenced to nine months in prison.

Powell, of 24 Dobson Circle, was charged with second-degree sexual assault for allegedly having a sexual relationship with one of her students for about two years. The state has extended a plea deal offer to Powell, and Powell entered a guilty plea in March to second-degree sexual assault and risk of injury to a minor and faced up to 18 months in prison.

Powell had earlier pleaded not guilty on Feb. 22 2012 through her attorney. Police were assigned to investigate a “possible improper relationship” between Powell and a student whom Powell had been teaching from eighth grade at Woodrow Wilson Middle School through 10th grade at Middletown High School, according to the warrant. The victim’s mother reported to police that she was concerned about the relationship between Powell and the victim after allegedly finding out that Powell pretended to be the victim’s mother and signed a juvenile summons for an incident where the victim was charged with shoplifting, according to the warrant. The victim’s mother told police that Powell “was very involved” with the victim since eighth grade. At the time, the mother appreciated the effort, according to the warrant. At one point mother found pair of Victoria Secret “Pink” brand V-string panties under her son matress with a Maloney High School class ring with name “Christine Doyle” carved inside it. Powell admitted to police that both items were hers.

The boy began babysitting her children in 2010. She would drive the boy and his friends around and signed them passes to be late for class.

In an interview with the police Christina Powell admitted that the relationship with the boy had turned sexual around April 2011, shortly after victims 16th birthday. Powell told that victim had tried to kiss her on mouth and she thought that he were joking, but when he did it again she kissed him back on the mouth, and that victim slipped her hands under her shirt and bra feeling her breasts. After that they “messed around” physically a couple of times before they had actual sex. Second time victim put his fingers in her vagina and “fingered her”. Shortly after those sex acts they began to have actual sex with full intercourse. According to interview, Powell told that she would pick up the teen boy about a once a week and drove him to her house to have sex with her in her bedroom. During the summer they had sex more often, usually several times a week. When the school started again, they were back having sex usually once a week. She also told that everything was consensual and that she never pressured or forced him to do anything. Powell said, according to an arrest warrant affidavit, "that their relationship was more than about sex. She said that they truly loved each other and that they had planned on moving out of state together after the victim turned 18."

The boy's mother told Judge David P. Gold that her son has changed for the worse since Powell sexually assaulted him. "She deserved to go to jail for what did to my son," the woman said. "I trusted her. I really trusted her. She ruined him and she ruined my relationship with him."

During the course of the preliminary investigation, Powell had admitted to police that she had sent the boy nude photos of herself via cell phone.

Powell must also register as a sex offender, will be on probation for 10 years can never again have any contact with the boy. The boy's mother has a lawsuit pending against Middletown schools. At least a year before police arrested Powell, other teachers and district paraprofessionals had significant concerns about Powell’s behavior with the student. Those concerns and suspicions were strong enough that one paraprofessional quit over what she felt was an inappropriate relationship between Powell and the boy, who at the time was in middle school, and another raised concerns about the situation, at least twice, with an administrator. When police began to investigate in November of last year, teachers and aides shared their concerns and suspicions. One told police that two summers ago she saw the boy hanging out at Powell’s home, swimming in her pool and that, wearing a bikini, Powell joined him. Others reported to police that they saw the boy hug Powell and smell her hair in the school. One said they overheard what appeared to be a spat between the two in the high school hallway.

Samantha Victoria Bryant, 30-year-old woman from Dothan, Alabama, has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to a child molestation charge.

Bryant, of Trawick Road, was arrested by Sheriff's Deputies on a Grand Jury indictment on Saturday 12 Janyary for Sexual Abuse. The victim was a 5 or 6-year-old boy. Bryant entered what’s referred to as a blind guilty plea, which means there was no agreed upon sentence by lawyers. Bryant also submitted an application for probation through her attorney, Mark Johnson, which will be ruled on by Circuit Court Judge Michael Conaway on July 23.

Lisa Franklin, 44-year-old substitute teacher from Orange County, New York, who was arrested in March has been has been indicted on charges, including predatory sexual assault on a child.

Franklin, of Gerri Court, in the Town of Newburgh, allegedly met the teen boy year ago when he was a 12-year-old student at Sacred Heart School in Newburgh, where Lisa Franklin worked as a substitute. Back in February, the boys parents contacted local police and told they found inappropriate text messages on his phone and became concerned about the relationship between their son and older woman.

In an indictment announced last week Friday morning, Franklin was indicted on two counts each of predatory sexual assault on a child and first-degree rape, eleven counts of second-degree rape and several other charges.

The predatory sexual assault on a child charge carries a minimum sentence of 10 years to life in prison, and a maximum of 25 years to life upon conviction.

An investigation determined Lisa Franklin and the boy “were involved in numerous sex acts in multiple jurisdictions”, according to police. Franklin was charged with one count of first-degree course of sexual conduct against a child, for an act allegedly committed in the Town of Newburgh, and two counts of second-degree rape, for acts allegedly committed in New Windsor and the City of Newburgh.